Inaccurate pointing of a spacecraft payload can significantly reduce spacecraft effectiveness. For example, inaccurate pointing of a communication antenna can significantly reduce spacecraft communication throughput as well as reduce the communication coverage.
Structural thermal deformation is always a major error contributor to spacecraft payload pointing. Accordingly, to achieve high pointing accuracy, the amount of spacecraft structural thermal deformation needs to be accurately determined and compensated.
As a result, there is a need for achieving high pointing accuracy of a spacecraft by accurately accounting for spacecraft structural thermal deformation.